Amushed
by maraudersmaps
Summary: Lily Evans had already encountered eight couples schmoozing in the shadowy nooks of Hogwarts, and she'd only been on patrol for half an hour. Well, she rationalised, it was Christmas - the extra sugar and smuggled Butterbeer the student body inhaled at this time of year always made them reckless and slightly stupid.


Lily Evans had already encountered eight couples schmoozing in the shadowy nooks of Hogwarts, and she'd only been on patrol for half an hour. Well, she rationalised, it _was_ Christmas - the extra sugar and smuggled Butterbeer the student body inhaled at this time of year always made them reckless and slightly stupid.

Her footsteps echoed off the stone walls. Delilah Bones was supposed to be patrolling with her that night, but had begged Lily to let her skive off so she could finish a Potions essay - and being the proud lover of education that she was, how could Lily have denied a student wanting to improve their grades? Patrolling solo wasn't difficult anyway - it just provided the Gryffindor prefect with a lot less companionship and a lot more boredom.

The sixth-year tapped her wand lightly against her thigh as she walked past the Trophy Room, ducking her head through the door quickly for a once-over. Empty. Nobody snogged in the Trophy Room anyway.

Okay. This was becoming unbearably boring now. Lily found herself noticing every crack in the wall, every tiny bit of parchment dropped in a corridor, every -

_"Expelliarmus!"_

_"Expelliarmus!"_

The disarming spell was yelled from two different places behind her - the ten and a quarter inches of willow tore itself from Lily's loose grip, whirling away somewhere behind her before being Summoned to one of her attackers.

The redhead whirled around, a frown etched into her face. Two bulky sixth-years in green and black robes sneered at her, their expressions a mixture of hatred and disgust. Mulciber and Avery. Lily noted that Severus was not with them - her stomach lurched uncomfortably. Was his absence a good or a bad thing? Had they rendered him unable to come? Had he restrained himself from coming because he didn't want to see her get hurt? Or didn't he care? She inwardly kicked herself. None of that mattered anymore. He was gone.

"Evans." Mulciber spat her name. "What are you doing, all on your own?"

"Why does it matter to you?" Lily poured all the venom she could muster into her tone, and was pleased with the result, although she couldn't help but fear for her wand. Mulciber twirled it between his fingers. She wouldn't put it past him to snap it there and then, and Merlin, she _loved _that wand. It was perfect for her favourite charms, and had been with her through so much.

"Give me back my wand." She said coldly, narrowing her eyes at the Slytherin. He and his accomplice stepped towards her casually. Lily hoped that she was looking defiant and threatening, but suspected that she was looking like a trapped animal instead.

"This wand? But Evans, wands are for wizards."

"I _am_ a wizard. No, actually, I'm a witch. Or are you that thick?"

Mulciber scowled and looked her up and down. It seemed that he_ had_noticed she was female, maybe a fair few times. Avery was silent, the previous smirk wiped clean from his face, his expression blank and stony. He wasn't the major threat - he was merely a sidekick, a support. _He_wasn't causing Lily any worry. Mulciber, on the other hand…

She gulped, trying to do it subtly so Mulciber wouldn't notice a chink in her armour.

"You _disgusting_ mudblood." Mulciber hissed under his breath, becoming more hateful as she approached her. Lily didn't like how close he was getting. She started to back up, knowing there was a staircase behind her that led up to the next floor.

"You mudbloods, entering _our_ schools, trying to flaunt the little magical ability you have… you make me _sick_."

Lily opened her mouth for a retort, but Mulciber flicked his wand, and a wave of pain overcame her.

"_Agh._" was all she could utter - the Gryffindor crumpled to her knees, choking from the intense pain. It seared through every cell of her body, but somehow, through the pressing layer of pain pushing down on her, she knew this wasn't the Cruciatus curse. Mulciber had been learning tricks.

"That's right." Mulciber grinned wickedly, his grip tightening on Lily's wand. "Get on your knees. That's all you're good for."

Lily could only choke and splutter in response, trying to retain an ounce of dignity whilst pain washed over her body mercilessly - she started to tremble.

"You…_ stop_… it… Dumbledore…"

"How will you prove it?" Mulciber responded in a faux-casual manner, flicking his wand and relieving her of the pain - the girl on the floor gasped, her limbs shaking of their own accord as the agony left her. "Who's gonna believe you? Avery didn't see anything. Did you, Avery?"

Avery shook his head, not making a sound. Somehow, that made him even creepier.

Lily struggled to her feet.

"If you think you're so great." she spat, "Give me my wand. Let's see how you fare against a mudblood like me."

"I won't fall for your tricks." Mulciber responded, stepping towards her again. "I'm not Slughorn, or McGonagall, or Snape. I can see past your little facade. You have no talent, no worth. Why you're even allowed through the doors, I don't know. You're no more magical than any Muggle."

"Get away from me." She said forcefully, but he didn't stop. She suddenly felt the banister of the staircase poking into her back, but before she could turn and race upwards, Mulciber had lurched forward and pinned her against the arm of the staircase with his bulky arms, using his midriff to pin her body back. The redhead writhed, yelling and shouting, but nobody was there. It was half past ten, and teachers' patrols barely overlapped the Prefects'.

Mulciber shook her, and her voice dwindled suddenly from the motion, her hair becoming tangled.

"Leave me alone! _Leave me alone_!" She cried forcefully, pounding her fists against his chest. Mulciber was like a brick wall, unmoving.

"Shut up." He said bitterly, pointing his wand at her throat. His face was leant in so close to hers, his gelled brown hair brushed her forehead. "Just _shut up._"

_BANG._

Mulciber was blasted backwards, falling to the floor in a heap, spluttering and clutching the top of his head. Avery only had time to gasp before he too was smashed backwards into a wall, before falling limply to the floor like his mate.

Lily turned to see James Potter and Sirius Black running down the staircase, each sporting a murderous gleam in their eyes.

"What the _fuck, _Mulciber!" was all that James said, reaching the bottom of the staircase and running to the Slytherin, who was just getting up. A boot into the stomach caused him to bend over and groan.

"Potter-"

A punch to the head sent Mulciber stumbling backwards into the opposite wall to Avery, before a multitude of curses left James' mouth, slamming into Mulciber with an immense amount of force. Sirius was taking care of Avery, beating him into oblivion whilst James turned and grabbed Lily's shoulders, locking his eyes onto hers.

"Are you okay?" He asked in a gentler tone, though he was visibly trying to contain himself. "What did they do to you? Are you hurt?"

"I'm… I'm fine." Lily stammered, overwhelmed by the intensity of James' gaze. James Potter, a boy she'd hated up until the beginning of sixth year (or pretended to hate, at least), had saved her. _Saved _her. Tell her that a year ago, and she would have snorted. But James… wow, James. "Thank you, James."

She realised that she hadn't called him Potter. He seemed to notice this too, but he was far too furious to react. He pulled her into a warm hug, before letting go abruptly, and moving towards Mulciber.

"No! Don't." She grabbed his sleeve and pulled him back. "Sirius, stop!" Sirius looked up from the groaning, bruised form of Avery.

"Are you serious, Evans? After what these twats were doing-?" A look from James made Sirius roll his eyes and step away from the blonde Slytherin, hexing him one last time before making his way back towards them unhappily.

"How did you know?" She asked the messy-haired Quidditch captain before her, who shrugged and put one hand in his pocket, pushing down a piece of spare parchment.

"I heard you yell. Those bastards." He shook his head before looking at her pleadingly. "Please just let me beat them up some more."

"No. You'll get in trouble."

"Then you can tell the Professors why! Me and Padfoot will back you up."

Lily shook her head.

"I don't want to make this worse… It'll just make a huge scene-"

"No." James sounded stern. "You're telling McGonagall. Tomorrow."

Lily sighed.

"Okay. Just… can we go back to the Common Room? I'm tired."

James nodded immediately, eager to do anything she wanted.

"Of course, yeah. I'm assuming you don't have your wand, or you would have kicked the shit out of them…" He turned and muttered a Summoning spell, and Lily's wand flew into his hand. He gave it to her, and tugged Sirius away from the groaning piles of flesh on the floor, who was glaring at them disgustedly.

Lily didn't want to talk about it, but somehow, on the walk back to Gryffindor Tower, with a Marauder on either side of her, everything came tumbling out - she bit her lip as tears threatened to spill down her cheeks. She scolded herself - _you aren't some weak damsel in distress, Lily_. That's true, she wasn't - but somehow, this incident had shaken her. She'd never imagined that anything like that would happen in Hogwarts. Outside the castle walls, it was happening every day, but here? It broke her to think that her one place of safety, her one guarded little bubble, had also been corrupted by the disgusting ideals and regimes that plagued the Wizarding world.

Sirius and James had turned silent, which, for Marauders, was a very dangerous thing indeed. James had started to tremble when she described what happened just before they had arrived - Lily could still feel Mulciber's body on hers, forcing her back. What would he have done, had James and Sirius not found her? If only she had had her wand…

"I'm gonna kill them." The bespectacled troublemaker murmured under his breath, not meeting anyone's eyes. "How _dare_ they hurt you. I'm gonna kill them."

Sirius remained silent, looking pained.

"They're disgusting." He shared James' murmur. "Bringing those fucking ideas into Hogwarts."

Lily said nothing.

Every day for weeks, the Slytherins seemed to spend longer and longer terms in the Hospital Wing. Things tumbled down onto them randomly in corridors, they tripped over thin air, curses came flashing from absolutely nowhere - but Lily knew better. James and Sirius were talented wizards, but not even they knew how to turn invisible…


End file.
